1.6.1.5 Ensure 'Configure Attack Surface Reduction rules: Set the state for each ASR rule' is set to '9e6c4e1f-7d60-472f-ba1a-a39ef669e4b2:1'

Information

This rule helps prevent credential stealing by locking down Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).

Rule ID and name:

- 9e6c4e1f-7d60-472f-ba1a-a39ef669e4b2 (Block credential stealing from the Windows local security authority subsystem (lsass.exe))

The recommended state for this setting is: 9e6c4e1f-7d60-472f-ba1a-a39ef669e4b2:1 (Block).

Note: More information on ASR rules can be found at the following link: Use Attack surface reduction rules to prevent malware infection | Microsoft Docs https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-defender-exploit-guard/attack-surface-reduction-exploit-guard

Attack surface reduction helps prevent actions and apps that are typically used by exploit-seeking malware to infect machines.

LSASS authenticates users who sign in on a Windows computer. Microsoft Defender Credential Guard in Windows normally prevents attempts to extract credentials from LSASS. Some organizations can't enable Credential Guard on all of their computers because of compatibility issues with custom smartcard drivers or other programs that load into the Local Security Authority (LSA). In these cases, attackers can use tools like Mimikatz to scrape cleartext passwords and NTLM hashes from LSASS.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to 9e6c4e1f-7d60-472f-ba1a-a39ef669e4b2 with a value of 1 :

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Defender Antivirus\Microsoft Defender Exploit Guard\Attack Surface Reduction\Configure Attack Surface Reduction rules: Set the state for each ASR rule

Note: This Group Policy path is provided by the Group Policy template WindowsDefender.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 Release 1709 Administrative Templates (or newer).

Impact:

When a rule is triggered, a notification will be displayed from the Action Center.

Note: Enabling this rule doesn't provide additional protection if LSA protection is enabled since the ASR rule and LSA protection work similarly. However, when LSA protection cannot be enabled, this rule can be configured to provide equivalent protection against malware that target lsass.exe.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/25919

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY

References: 800-53|SI-16, CSCv7|8.3

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 909840a1489745e9841e1cbb1fa39727b5ead5f871d250f3b731ac55c0118d9e